The Legend of Zelda: Masterpiece Edition [NES]Improvement Mod of The Legend of Zelda (U) for the NES | Graphics & Gameplay

About

Zelda: Masterpiece Edition is a mod of the original “The Legend of Zelda” for the NES with the goal of making the ultimate version of the game by enhancing the graphics and gameplay to the highest quality standards possible, while staying true to the look and feel of the original game. I dreamed of an enhanced version of the game for years, until one day I noticed there were some romhacks showing up that had some of the same or similar features I had always wanted to implement, and that incentivized me to start work on my first romhack.

Features

99% Graphics Overhaul - Link's Awakening-style graphics, but lots of customizations and optimized for NES, but while staying loyal to the style of the original game. I've spent months poring over every single sprite to improve them as much as possible, while not straying too far from the original.

Automap - The map automatically draws as you explore the overworld, making the game much more accessible to new players. (Romhack by Snarfblam)

999 Rupees - The 255 rupees limit has been removed. User Snarfblam was nice enough to implement it for me, however I'm pretty sure he didn't take care of the save feature, and therefore it's buggy. I need help debugging this before I can finish the game. This is the only major thing holding this mod back. Does anyone know where I can find documentation on the game's save file format?

More Accurate Heart Meter - ¼ and 1/8 heart damage is now displayed in your heart meter when you acquire the blue and red rings. (Automap hack by Snarfblam)

Updated Translation - I’ve cleaned up, improved and clarified the in-game text. The only problem I had is that I changed "CLOCK" to "HOUR GLASS" in the "All Treasures" scroll, and I've been unable to get "HOUR" and "GLASS" to display on separate lines, and I'm not sure if there's room to code it properly? I've seen other hacks do much more elaborate things with the scroll, so I could use some help with this if you are experienced with this.

Easy Mode and Hard Mode - Everyone I've tried introducing Zelda to always complains about how hard the game is and tend to give up in the Darknuts and Wizzrobes rooms. In order to make the ideal version for new players, I've included an easy mode. All that's left is nerfing Wizzrobes. I'd like them to be killed with one hit from the Rod in easy mode. I need help with this if you know where the code is for this. Wizzrobes are immune to both the rod and its beam in the original game.

Auto-Health - If you have medicine, it will auto-refill upon your death in the easy mode. Had an offer to help with this, but don't know if this will make it into the game or not.

No Sword Runs Possible - Make it possible to kill Ganon without the sword. I have the code, but haven't tested it yet.

Cracked Walls - Small cracks to indicate which walls are bomb-able, a staple of later Zelda games. I'd love to actually do this, but apparently it would be pretty tricky. If anyone out there is interested in taking this on, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to have to cut this.

3rd Quest - An all-new quest. There are a lot of romhacks out there with new quests, but I have yet to see one with a professional level of quality that focuses on fun, exploration and puzzles and less on difficulty. I plan on using ZeldaTech, and I hope it doesn't create any glitches or bugs.

Play as Zelda - With a new, remixed soundtrack. I had someone make some famtracker tracks that I love, but I still need an end credits song if there are any composers out there. Someone posted a guide to the game's music code recently, so I hope that will be enough for me to figure out how to add the music into the game.

Replay Value - If I get lucky and get an offer for help from a real code wizard, I'd like to add simple achievements for 100%-ing the game to unlock cheats. I have some ideas for how this could be implemented without being too complicated, but I'll need a good programmer to help.

Should the 3rd Quest and Zelda versions be updates to the original romhack, so should they be separate releases? Anyone have any opinion on this?

I've been working on this for 3 or 4 years and I really need to finish it this year. If you are interested in helping, please leave a message. If you know anyone who might be interested in offering their romhacking skills, please share them this post. If anyone has a more complete ROM/RAM map than the one on the datacrystal wiki, please let me know, it would mean the world to me. Thanks!

One thing I would do is change the font and numbers to look like the ones on Link's Awakening or something nice. The plain, blocky font that they used looks too generic and boring as well as not giving the game a unique style.

One thing I would do is change the font and numbers to look like the ones on Link's Awakening or something nice. The plain, blocky font that they used looks too generic and boring as well as not giving the game a unique style.

Second that. The font needs an update badly. I played the original game and found it hard to read at times. Link's Awakening's font is much more up there.

The "HOUR GLASS" thing should be fairly easy to do.Simply locate the pointer that prints out the original text, repoint it to a free space of the ROM where you have space for HOUR [linebreak hex value] GLASS.

Well, You definitely have a knack for graphics because I honestly at first glance thought this was another HD Remake for Mesen.

Awesome Project!

I would agree ... the graphics looks quite nice. I would suggest making the sprite outline colors (which are soft colors) consistent with the background graphics (which are black) because it makes them stand out. You could interpret this as a positive though because you always know what's an enemy and where Link is. In any case, good job on the hack ... and I look forward to the release!

The "HOUR GLASS" thing should be fairly easy to do.Simply locate the pointer that prints out the original text, repoint it to a free space of the ROM where you have space for HOUR [linebreak hex value] GLASS.

... but first I think you'll have to hack the code for displaying the item list to add a linebreak control code .

@sigmaecho, why did you want to misspell "HOURGLASS" as "HOUR GLASS" anyway? There's plenty of room in the second column for a nine-letter word ("STEPLADDER" is already 10 letters long), so screen space isn't really an issue, and splitting "HOURGLASS" into two strings would consume more ROM space than keeping it as a single string.

... but first I think you'll have to hack the code for displaying the item list to add a linebreak control code .

@sigmaecho, why did you want to misspell "HOURGLASS" as "HOUR GLASS" anyway? There's plenty of room in the second column for a nine-letter word ("STEPLADDER" is already 10 letters long), so screen space isn't really an issue, and splitting "HOURGLASS" into two strings would consume more ROM space than keeping it as a single string.

Wow, you're right, it IS one word. Thanks, that saves me a lot of trouble!

Sounds very cool. I'd also like to see the beeping when at low health shortened if possible.

An alternative to cracked wall tiles could be a sound when hitting those walls like in Link's Awakening? It's more subtle but removes some trial & error.

For the easy mode, what about starting out with more health than 3 hearts after dying? Easier money and bombs early on would also help a lot, since new players don't know about the northeasternmost screen.

I can't help but remark that every single Zelda 1 hacks made in the last few years have some sort of graphics that resemble Link's Awakening's graphics. If graphics are to be modified, it will always look like Link's Awakening. Nothing original. It seems to be a solid trend.